Birthday Countdown 2018
by RandomFavoriteCouples
Summary: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I use prompts to create a story everyday until my birthday. This is my birthday gifts to all of you. Please read and review and enjoy. All featured around Ami x Arata.
1. Android

**Title: Birthday Countdown 2018**

 **Rating: T**

 **Category: Digimon**

 **Pairing: Ami/Arata**

 **Summary: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I use prompts to create a story everyday until my birthday. This is my birthday gifts to all of you. Please read and review and enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters within the story and prompts.**

 **Special thanks to my friend who gave me the prompts for this year.**

 _Chapter 1 - Android_

 _Prompt Summary: Some things are the same in a parallel world, others aren't. Can Ami fulfill her own wishes and help Arata move on or is he past the point of seeing reality the way it is?_

 _~~Story Begins~~_

Ami was walking in Shibuya Station with Rina and VeeVee. She felt strange in this world like she was an intruders, which was true, but some of the people that they passed in the station felt strange.

"Oh my god!" Rina said causing Ami to snap out of her thoughts. There in front of her was herself. "There's two of you! Like what are the chances?"

"Are you really me?" the Ami in front of them asked.

"She's from another world!" Rina said. The other Ami's eyes widened.

"I'm a parallel version of you," Ami said. It's not the first time that she's seen her body outside of her body, but this one feels stranger.

"Than please help me!" Ami said in front of her. "My husband put my soul in this android because I almost killed myself. He doesn't understand the tremendous amount of guilt I have! He doesn't know what happened to our family!"

Ami blinked. "Android? Husband?"

The other Ami nodded. "Arata married me, wait! Don't tell me -"

"Arata and I aren't even dating in my world," Ami said. She grabbed her other arm and looked downcasted. "Does that mean, even in this world, Dad and Takumi -"

The other Ami nodded. "Yes, I pulled the plug on them on my birthday, the same day that Mom killed herself."

"My mom hasn't done that," Ami said.

"Hey! Hey! Don't ignore us!" Rina said.

"What do you think about coming with us," VeeVee said. "This way you guys you can talk more."

The two Ami's nodded and let Rina take the lead. Ami found out that this world, if a person has enough money and both people are on broad, their soul can be transferred to an android. This world's Arata built his android from the ground up and when he saw Ami barely breathing, he transferred her soul to the android by hacking her EDEN account to put her in the android. He went against her wishes and something strange happened.

"Are his eyes red?" Ami said.

"Yes, which is weird because they used to be grey," the other Ami, whose red ponytail was hiding a glowing blue symbol, said. She looked at her counterpart. "He has never acted this aggressive to me before, even when we would get into fights. It is almost like he's a different person than before."

"Ami!" a male voice said in front of the three girls. "Where do you think you are going?"

Arata was there in front of them, a sneer on his face as his red eyes looked at the two Ami's.

"Arata!" Ami said as she stepped forward. "Please listen to me! This isn't what I -"

"Quiet! I don't care about what you want, you aren't leaving me!" Arata said. He then took notice of the other Ami. "There's two of you?"

The Ami that stepped forward spoke again. "She's came here from another world. Please Arata, just listen to me!"

Arata grabbed Ami's wrists so hard that sparks started to shoot out of her wrists. Rina watched in horror as Ami's eyes lost their blue and started to go to a static screen.

"Let Ami go!" Rina said placing her hands on her hips.

"She's my wife, I don't-" Arata said as he turned his head to face Rina only to get a kick in the face. He let go of Ami as he fell to the floor, Rina landed back on her feet. And the android Ami started to reboot.

Ami tilted her head to the side as Arata fell down. A small square that left his body bounced on the floor away from the people. She ran away over to it to check it out.

"Ow! What the hell? Why did you kick me in the face?" Arata said in a loud voice as his grey eyes focused on Rina. "Who the hell are you?"

"Arata? Are you okay?" Ami asked as she shook her head, her blue eyes returned to normal.

"I AM the great, beautiful, amazing Rina!" Rina said. "You was hurting your Ami!"

"I was?" Arata asked as he looked at the two females. "I don't remember it." He grabbed his head and groaned. "I feel like my memory has gaps in it." He looked at Ami. "The last thing I remember was us having a fight and you running away."

"This might be why," Ami said holding up the square thing up and revealing it was a chip.

Arata looked from right to left. "There's two of you?"

"It's a long story," Ami said running over to her parrell counterpart and looking at the chip. "It's one of Ms. Kishbie and Crusadermon chips. Where did you get this?"

"It fell out of Arata," Ami said giving the chip to her.

"I'll stay here with Arata, get him caught up on all that's happen. You two go teach Barbamon a lesson," Ami said. She then hugged the flesh Ami. "Tell your Arata about our family," she whispered. "Don't make the same mistakes I did."

Rina and Ami started to leave the area but Ami stopped and turned around. "Do you know what that chip does?"

"It controls a person's mind," Arata said. "It is still in military testing. Why?"

"Because I'm having problems with Arata in my world. He's not even listening, but I'm not gonna stop until he's back to himself."

"Your world Arata?" Arata asked.

"I wish you the best of luck in your world!" Ami said as Rina and Ami left the area.

#

Ami was looking at Arata in the Valhalla Server, the parallel world haunting her mind. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.

"Hey, Arata," Ami said causing Arata to look from his newly evolved Diablomon to her. "Can I ask you to do me a favor?"

"Huh? Of course," Arata said as he observed her. He can tell something's wrong. She's not as bubbly and cheerful as she was before. She was looking like death was chasing her. "But why me?"

Ami looked at him, her blue eyes showing tears and he hopes that she's not going to break down on him. He's not the best at comforting people.

"I was just curious," she said trying to sound happy. Arata could hear it in her voice and see it with her forced smile. "It wasn't a huge favor, I can take care of it later. Anyway, I'll see you later."

She logged out before Arata could stop her. He just shrugged it off, he thought it's because she exhausted from the emotional rollercoaster ride they've been on.

Ami let out a nervous laugh in the all elevator all the way up to the rooftop. "It's not a huge favor," she said to herself. "Of course not, Ami!" It's only a matter of life and death. YOUR life and death."

 **Later on, this prompt will get a sequel. So please don't forget to review and let me know what you think.**


	2. Empathy

**Title: Birthday Countdown 2018**

 **Rating: T**

 **Category: Digimon**

 **Pairing: Ami/Arata**

 **Summary: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I use prompts to create a story everyday until my birthday. This is my birthday gifts to all of you. Please read and review and enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters within the story and prompts.**

 **Special thanks to my friend who gave me the prompts for this year.**

 _Chapter 2 - Empathy_

 _Prompt Summary: Ami sees a lost Kuramon in the Shibuya Station who is hiding from everything and everyone. She finally coaxes him out to her and she lets him stay with her. Too bad Arata and Ami didn't know that Infermon is protective._

 _~~Story Begins~~_

Digimon were running amok in Tokyo making everyone - people and digimon - run around in fear, but some people like Nokia took the Digimon in for their safety, and others just bullied and used the confused and scared digimon to their own amusement.

Ami was just running around in the Shibuya subway trying to find the self-centered Ogremon's lost item. She's been looking for that item for the last thirty minutes, but she wasn't giving up.

Ami had found a safe spot for her digimon and herself so they could rest. She was giving her digimon HP Capsule C when she heard a sound. It wasn't just Ami who heard the sound, but her Angewomon, LadyDevimon, and her Magnangemon also heard the sound. Her two angel digimon stood at the ready to attack at a moment's notice, but her devil digimon shared Ami's reactions that the sound wasn't a threat.

"Angewomon, Magnaangemon, calm down," Ami said. "It sounds like its in pain, a cry for help."

They heard the sound again and Ami went towards the direction of the sound. Behind one of the many waste buckets in the subway, was a Kuramon who looked terrible. The small blue floating body was covered in scratches and bruises, and the one big red eye had a line going diagonal through it.

"Oh, you poor thing!" Ami said with a gasp, tears already forming in her eyes. She saw the way the digimon moved back against the wall, the digimon had tried to make its body as small and close to the wall as it could.

Ami slowly got on her knees and held her hand out towards the small digimon. "It's okay," she said in a gentle voice. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Kuramon tried to move further away from her, but he was already as close to the wall as he could.

Ami took her backpack off and placed it in front of her. She pulled out two things and placed them on the floor. "Here you go, a HP Capsule B and an Aegis Apple."

She placed her backpack back on her back and stood up. She turned back towards her digimon and they left the area. Kubanon watching them from his spot as he nibbled on the apple. He followed them but still kept a distance away from them.

"Found it!" Ami said upon seeing the sparkling item. She grabbed it and put it in her pocket. She turned around to face her digimon. "I'm so glad this case is done. My legs hurt and I'm sure your wings hurt too."

She reached into her pocket and pulled out an Export before something caught her eye. She turned around to the side and saw Kuramon hiding behind one of the benches.

"Oh, it's you again," Ami said with a smile. She got down on her knees. "You look better. Did you follow us all the way here?"

The digimon moved like it was nodding while staying behind the benches.

"Would you like to accompany us?" Ami asked as she held her hand out towards the baby digimon. "You can stay in my apartment if you wish."

The digimon didn't move, but Ami can tell that it was still unsure about her.

"She's not like the others," LadyDevimon said. Kuramon looked at the virus type digimon. "She won't hurt you. She would place herself in front of danger to protect us."

"She'll find the person who did that to you and make them see the errors of their way," Magnangemon said.

Kuramon dashed to Ami and pressed its face against her chest, its eye getting filled with water as it started to cry.

Ami held the digimon and rubbed its head in order to soothe it. "I lost momma," the digimon said as it cried. "I asked big digimon for help, but they attacked me."

Ami's heart broke as she held the digimon. "You poor thing," she said. "We will help you find your momma."

"Will you really?" the baby digimon said.

"Of course we will," Angewomon said. "Ami's a cyber sleuth. If anyone can find your mom, it'll be Ami."

"Thank you!" Kuramon said jumping up and down in Ami's hands.

Ami smiled and with Kuramon in her arms, she went to go finish the case and to ask for help.

When Ami brought Kuramon to Mirel, they were hoping for a lead on his mother's whereabouts.

"I can sense her," Mirel said. "Her presence is weak. She's badly injured, but the future is vague right now."

"What do you mean?" Kuramon said.

"Her location is still moving," Mirel said. "She will appear in this world, but I'm not clear on when and where. I will contact you as soon as she gets here."

"You said she's badly injured," Ami said. "Is there anyway that we can heal her?"

"There is a way, but it will cost you," Mirel said.

Ami looked at Kuramon before she nodded. "Very well. I'll pay the price."

"Excellent," Mirel said. "What would you like to send to her."

Ami handed Mirel a HP Capsule A. "Please give that to her. I'm sure it will help," Ami said.

"Very well, I'll message you with the price," Mirel said.

Two weeks and two evolutions that scared Ami, Mirel finally called her.

"She's finally here," Mirel said. "She's somewhere in Shibuya Station. The fluentance of the digital waves is too unstable to get a good location."

"Thank you so much!" Ami said. "I'll go get Keramon."

"Ami, before you go, your price," Mirel said. "I'm afraid to tell you that you must quit looking for your father."

Ami's face turned pale. "Okay. I understand," Ami said.

~~Shibuya Station~~

Arata wrapped his arms around his stomach as it grumbled for food. "Damn, I can really use some food right now. Do you know what sounds good?" Arata said to Infermon who looked at him. "Ami's home cooked food."

Infermon just tilted its head to the side.

"She fixed me some food after the comic competition," Arata said. "Her repayments for me since I lost the competition. It was so good!"

They both heard a crash and looked in the sound's direction. Infermon smelled the air, he took in the scent that smelled like Ami, but there was another scent with her. That scent smelled like a Keramon.

Arata heard Infermon let out a robotic growl. The next thing is that Arata saw his digimon take off in a run. "Infermon! Wait!" Arata said as he chased his own digimon.

"Ahh!" Keramon said hiding behind Ami, his arms wrapping around her legs. "That was scary!"

'That' was the digital shift happening in the Digital Labyrinth. It was like a mini earthquake and it caused the closest waste bins to topple over that made a loud noise.

Keramon let go of Ami's leg and sniffed the air. "Momma's scent is stronger! We are getting closer to her!"

"There isn't very many areas left to look," Ami said. "We need to hurry."

Ami started to walk forward, Keramon followed but stopped as Ami walked past a connected hallway as three fireballs flew between them.

"Aahh!" Keramon said and than went to ran to hide behind Ami only for an Infermon to block the path. "P-p-please, I don't want to fight!"

"Spider shooter," Infermon said attacking, but at the last moment he had to look up at the ceiling as Ami placed herself between the two neutral digimon.

He hit a light causing it to shatter and glass started to come down on top of Ami and Keramon. Angewomon swooped in and grabbed Keramon. Magnangemon raised his shield over top of Ami. The glass bouncing off and making a sound similar to rain.

Infermon growled and charged at Keramon and Angewomon. Ladydevimon flew above Infermon and held onto his horn. She lead the spider-like digimon into a wall.

"Infermon! Stop!" Arata said running into view.

"Arata?" Ami said in surprise

"Ami?" he asked back. "Leave me alone!" Keramon said running away from Infermon and hiding behind Ami. "I've done nothing to you!"

Arata grabbed his digimon's horn and pulled back. "That's enough! What has gotten into you?" Arata said. Infermon kept struggling as his eyes kept staring at Keramon.

Keramon sniffled as his eyes filled up with tears. "I'm sorry for whatever I did, but can I make it up to you later? We need to find momma!"

"Sorry Arata, I promise to come back, but Keramon is right," Ami said.

"It's fine," Arata said. "I don't know what has gotten into Infermon all of a sudden. Go ahead and go."

Ami nodded and ran off to another area. Arata looked at his digimon. "What is wrong with you?"

Infermon's response was another growl.

When Ami returned, Keramon wasn't with her, and Infermon pressed his head against her stomach. He nuzzled his head against it. "Mine," the digimon said.

"What do you mean yours?" Arata asked.

"Were you jealous of Keramon?" Ami asked as she petted his head.

The digimon nodded his head which caused Ami to laugh. "I didn't mean to make you jealous," Ami said. "Keramon lost his mom so I was helping him find her."

Arata crossed his arms. "That seems like something Nokia would do," he said.

"Mm, yeah, you're right, but," Ami said, "Nokia hasn't had a parent just disappear either. So I guess I shared a common trait with Keramon." She looked at Arata. "Are you hungry?"

"No don't be changing the subject on-" Arata said.

"Yes, he is," Infermon said interrupting Arata.

"Quiet!" Arata said glaring at Infermon. "Did you eat something weird? This isn't like you!"

Ami just smiled and chuckled. She looked at her LadyDevimon and nodded as she used a Home Gate to leave unnoticed. She didn't need Arata to pry into her private life, not when he's a fugitive and there are bigger things to worry about.

 **Please Read and Review**


	3. War

**Title: Birthday Countdown 2018**

 **Rating: T**

 **Category: Digimon**

 **Pairing: Ami/Arata**

 **Summary: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I use prompts to create a story everyday until my birthday. This is my birthday gifts to all of you. Please read and review and enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters within the story and prompts.**

 **Special thanks to my friend who gave me the prompts for this year.**

 _Chapter 3 - War_

 _Prompt Summary: A homework assignment reveals the terrible things that happen in war, an internal war, and also the struggle of those who been damaged by it._

 _~~Story Begins~~_

Arata was one of the many students who groaned as they were assigned another research paper.

"This research paper will be over the latest military event, the Drone Strike of '87," the teacher said. "Some of you may know this strike as it happened when most of you were six and seven."

The class watched as the military history teacher picked up the hat and pulled a piece of paper out of the hat. "You will draw three pieces of paper from this hat. Each paper has a name of one of our soliders that died in the Drone Strike. I want a two page over that soldier for each soldier. You'll write the three solider names down and place them back in the hat. For your paper, in addition to the soliders, I want three pages over why the Droid Strike happened. One page over why you believe the Strike happened," the teacher instructed.

Arata opened his third paper and just looked at in shock. His hand was on autopilot writing the name down and placing it back in the hat. He couldn't believe his eyes.

General Army Aiba Kai

Arata was the last one to join his friends after school at Kamshiro Enterprises meeting room. The meeting room was a room that Mr. Kamishiro permantly reserved for his kids and their three friends.

The only open chair that was left was across from Ami who he wanted to talk to without it being obvious, but she had her earbuds in as she read her textbook.

"Hey! Arata! You are in a military history, right?" Nokia said.

"Yes, why?" Arata said as he sat down next to Nokia and Yuugo.

"Can you explain the Droid Strike of '87? My class is doing a debate over if it really happened or not," Nokia said.

That caught the Kamishiro twins attention and unbeknowst to them, Ami's as well. Ami paused her class session and listened in on the converstation.

"That's bold, isn't it?" Yuuko said. "I mean the anniversary is coming up."

"It depends on whether you believe it happened or not," Nokia said.

"I'm doing a research paper over it, but I don't feel like talking about it now," Arata said.

"If you are worried about Ami not joining in, don't. She doesn't mind us talking about it in front of her," Nokia said. "Besides, she's been non-social lately, besides it's not like she is paying us any attention."

"It's not that," Arata said. It was more about her father possibly being one of the victims or a MIA soldier disappearance. He just didn't feel comfortable about it.

"I personally believe it happened," Yuuko said. "I mean there was an official order to attack that lab and it even showed that it was under enemy control. Our troops were held hostage!"

"If that was the case, why didn't they pay the ransom to the enemy?" Nokia asked. "There's no way that the Droid attack happened! The troops went AWOL, started the lab on fire so they could escape."

Yuugo who had no idea what the topic was looked over at Ami who he saw move. She was rolling her earbuds cord around her digivice. Yuugo assumed it was powered off because the time wasn't being displayed, but her eyes never left her book.

"They possibly found new love and ran away or joined the enemy side," Nokia said.

"That's stupid!" Yuuko said. "Why the heck would they do that? If they died in war than their families get money from the government! Why would they go to the enemy side and give their families money!"

"I'm sorry, but I wouldn't know that!" Nokia said.

"Girls, calm down," Arata said. When these two girls got into an agruement, everyone would leave with a headache.

"Who knows what soldiers have been going through their head? They could have been wanting all the fame and highest medals. I mean -"

Ami snapped her book shut which caused the room to grow silent. She looked at them and with a sharp, cold tone of voice as she spoke.

"The Droid Strike of '87 did happen," Ami said her eyes burning blue with anger. "The media only telling lies to the people because both of your versions are wrong. So maybe, you should look more into the attack than what the media tells you!"

She stood up and grabbed her book and walked to the door. "Oh, by the way, the lab was researching ways to make amputations more natural feeling and not as painful, espcially for children."

She left the room and slammed the door behind her.

"Whoa," Nokia said. "I don't think I've ever seen her that mad, but it's weird. She usually ignores our converstations over anything that deals with military.:

Arata just stared at the door. The signs are there that something is troubling her. He looked back down to his bag. It is too convinent for all of these signs to be a conseuqnece.

When Ami got into her apartment, she locked the door before sitting her book down on her family room tabled and walked into the bedroom to charge her digivice. She took her glove off and sat it next to her digivice.

She looked at her uncovered hand, a blue hand composed of lines which resembled a human skeleton hand but tiny purple orbs ran across the lines. The orbs moved faster when she clenched that hand in a fist.

She opened her hand up and placed her other hand on top of it, the cool texture of data chilled her usual warm hand.

"Until the anniversary passes," Ami whispered to herself. "I'll avoid my friends until then."

Hours had passed since Ami gave herself a pep talk. What she didn't know is during those harmless hours of completing her homework and her backlog of cases, that Arata was doing his own research and that he wasn't liking the results.

The next day, Ami was walking up to her apartment. She had successfully avoided all of her friends, or so she thought. When she got to her floor, she saw Arata knocking on her door.

"Ami, come on!" Arata said. "I know you are in there."

Ami rolled her eyes as she took her keys out of her pocket. She never told or showed them where her apartment was so that left only one option to know where she lived.

"If you are so sure that I'm in there," Ami said causing Arata to turn to face her, a glare replacing his startled look, "than how come I am out here?" His answer was silence which made her bad mood even worse. "Well?"

"You forgot your digivice than," he said.

"I didn't forget it, I left it behind and shut it off for a reason. The fact that you knew where my digivice was at also means you hacked into my digivice and turned it on."

"I just want you to answer some questions," Arata said. "Please."

"Fine," she said with a sigh. She unlocked the door. "You are allowed to enter, but you are not allowed to tell everyone where I live and in worst case scenrio, don't freak out to much please."

Arata nodded and followed her into the apartment. He entered her family room, not even looking around to see how the young cyber sleuth decorated her apartment. He was solely focused on Ami.

"Your father was General Army Aiba Kai," Arata said. He watched as Ami stopped im her tracks. "He was, wasn't he?"

"I never answered your question," Ami said turning around to face him.

"Your body language answered it for me," Arata said. "That's why you was so defensive yesterday."

"Just because he is my father doesn't mean anything," Ami said. "No one knows how much I lost in the Droid Strike, but how do you know about my father?"

"I have to do a research project for military history," Arata said. "I have to research three soliders who died in the Droid Strike. Your father's name was one of them. I already have the research project done. I just wanted to check-up on you."

Ami stared at him before sighing. "Okay, what's your next question?"

"What really happened with the Droid Strike," Arata said.

"A commanding officer in a different unit felt like he should have gotten General Army instead of my dad. He hated that my dad would go overseas himself to check up on recruits. When he found out that my dad was the leader and main researcher for digital amputation. Their goal was to try and make amputations easier and less painful while making it easier to hide so they could feel normal. The commanding officer's jealousy grew so he ordered a Droid Strike claiming that the lab was actually being used to help the enemy by keeping people inside. The people who were inside the lab were the fellow troops under my father, those who had lost a limb, but my father saw the droid attack approaching. He tried everything to get the droids to disengage, but when he saw that nothing was working, he had the lab evacuate."

Ami sat down on her couch. Arata watched as she closed her eyes and rubbed the band of her glove. "You was there when the attack happened?" Arata asked.

"Yes," Ami said. "Dad loved Japan more than he loved his own family. He would do almost anything in honor of Japan."

"Is that why you turn anti-social," Arata asked.

"No, I turn anti-social because the commanding officer hasn't been terminated from the army, even after all the research Mom has done to prove that he intentionally committed a murder against a fellow officer, the media isn't showing her story or listening to her. I turn anti-social because I lost my twin brother in that strike and he was only trying to help our father to cancel the attack by waving a friendly flag," Ami said.

"Why was your twin brother there?"

"Besides the fact that he idolized our father, he hated being alone. He was there because I was there. I turn anti-social is because my father finally won the award that he's been dreaming of." Ami took off her glove and showed her digital hand to Arata. "I turn anti-social because I am the first and last person to successfully receive digital amputation."

Arata looked at her hand and than looked back at her. "Does it hurt?"

"All the time," Ami said. "The sad thing is that there is no treatment medicine for it so I suffer through the pain all the time."


	4. Mission

**Title: Birthday Countdown 2018**

 **Rating: T**

 **Category: Digimon**

 **Pairing: Ami/Arata**

 **Summary: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I use prompts to create a story everyday until my birthday. This is my birthday gifts to all of you. Please read and review and enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters within the story and prompts.**

 **Special thanks to my friend who gave me the prompts for this year.**

 _Chapter 4 - Mission_

 _Prompt Summary: Prologue to my story "You Need To Take Care of Yourself". This is the mission that Arata finally realize his feelings for Ami and the reason why he wanted Ami to leave with him._

 _Happy Independence Day everyone (including those that live out of USA)_

 _~~Story Begins~_

It wasn't their first mission assignment together, but it was their first undercover assignment together, plus their first undercover assignment overall.

"So, we are posing as a couple that isn't engaged or married living together," Arata said. "Why?"

"There have been 23 victims of murder, the police and I believe that it is a serial killer," Kyoko said.

"I'm assuming it's because of the way all victims were killed and that they were all females," Ami said.

"Yes, but that isn't all. All of them were living with their boyfriend," Kyoko said.

That put a pit in Arata's stomach. He doesn't know why, but it did. He's been in plenty of assignments that were in a battle between life and death. He knows Ami has too, so why was he so worried?

"So, we are using Ami to lure this person out. Why Ami? What happens if we are too late?" Arata asked.

"I'll be fine," Ami said. She nudged his side with her elbow. "Do you need me to kick your butt again to prove it?"

"Nah, I'm good. My cheek still stings sometimes since you punched me," Arata said.

"That was back in fourth grade," Ami said.

"Moving on," Arata said. "When do we start this mission?"

"Tomorrow," Kyoko said.

Weeks went by and Arata learned quickly that he was in love with Ami. It felt natural for him to be living with her, but he doesn't know if it is because he understands his feelings and considers everything that she does or says is cute or because they have known each other since first first grade.

Arata did catch himself thinking about starting a family with her. He hopes the case is almost over because it is affecting his thinking. Ami and he are only pretend dating, not actually dating.

They finally got a break in the lead, but in the worst way ever.

They went to an apartment party and one of the tenants pulled Ami away to show her something. Arata didn't think twice of it because it's happened before, but he did when his digivice went off.

Ami: Ueno Park. Ami is in danger! - PM

That's when Arata ran to Ueno Park. He called out his Keramon who evolved to Chrysalimon who pointed the way to Ami.

Arata didn't have time to process the scene, but he remembers it. The older man, the tennant who led Ami out of the apartment party, was on top of Ami, his hands pressed down around her neck. He had a swollen cheek with three scratches that were bleeding, but his eyes were black. Ami was scratching his arms weakly and gasping for air.

"Chrysalimon!" Arata yelled as they moved forward and getting the man's attention, but it was too late. Ami's hands went limp.

The man ran away and Chrysalimon chased after him. Arata was already doing CPR on Ami.

"Palmon," Arata said. "Notify the agency and follow that man."

Palmon appeared out of Ami's digivice in mid evolution to Rosemon before getting involved in the chase.

"Come on, Ami," Arata said as he kept doing CPR. "Please come back! I need you! Please! I love you!"

That made him think but his actions never faulted. "Ami, I love you. I want to start a family with you." He pressed his forehead against hers as he heard the sirens come closer. "Please, wake up, please wake up for me. You don't know how badly I need you."

A gasp of breath came from Ami and her blue eyes showed that they were regained signs of life. That's when he made a decision.

He and Keramon were going to leave the agency. Now, he just needs to find a way to get Ami and Palmon to leave as well.


	5. Freedom

**Title: Birthday Countdown 2018**

 **Rating: T**

 **Category: Digimon**

 **Pairing: Ami/Arata**

 **Summary: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I use prompts to create a story everyday until my birthday. This is my birthday gifts to all of you. Please read and review and enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters within the story and prompts.**

 **Special thanks to my friend who gave me the prompts for this year.**

 **Also this prompt is based off of the movie Everything Everything but I have yet to seen it. I did look it up on wikipedia.**

 _Chapter 5 - Freedom_

 _Prompt Summary: Ami feels like a caged bird and her friends leave her due to it. However, a new neighbor who is an old friend starts to rebuild their friendship and secrets will be revealed. Will Ami finally be free or will she forever stay as a caged bird?_

 _~~Story Begins~~_

A cyber body was a bittersweet experience for Ami. She's never felt more free in her life and when she returned back to her body, she thought everything was okay with her.

It wasn't. She had to leave her freedom behind after a month of being back to normal.

She's back to being caged in her room. She is a bird that wants to fly, but the cage isn't big enough for her or her dreams.

Ami rested her head against her bedroom window as she sat on her window seat. She watched her neighbors put their bocces into moving vans. Their daughter talked to her via whiteboard and it took Ami a while to trust her. It wasn't because she was jealous of her freedom, but deep down Ami is shy. She's not shy in cyberspace or with her friends unless they get near. She doesn't want them to know that she's caged.

Ami waved at her friend outside before they entered the moving van. Ami looked back down at her sketchpad and started to sketch out her version of the ocean.

Blue Box: Looks like I'm moving.

The avatar let out a sigh.

Akkino: What? Why?

Blue Box: Dad and Mom are getting relocated to a better job.

Munchies: we will miss you. Where are you getting relocated too?

Akkino: Yeah! This way we can visit you!

Blue Box typed out the information before he called it a night and logged off.

Arata stared at his contact list. He felt bad for blocking Ami's account, but she kept making excuses as to why she couldn't hang out with them. It was Nokia's idea when she found out that Ami was no longer Kyoko's assistant. That didn't stop him from worrying about her through.

Ami regrets not telling her 'friends' about her caged condition and she also regrets not going to the ocean. It's the one place she longs to go. Digital images, virtual reality, and sounds will never be as good as the physical things. She looked out her window and saw the house was already sold.

"Well that was fast," Ami said as she sat on her bean bag chair.

Arata looked at his new house. It was better than an the apartment that they've been crammed in. He walked into his room with his first two boxes and saw that in front of the curtains was a white board.

"That's a weird place to forget something," Arata said as he sat the boxes down. He picked it up and read it.

 _Hello! I left this white board here on purpose. This window looks into the next house's window and it's a girl's bedroom. Her name is Aiba Ami, but she prefers Ami. She can't leave her room so be kind to her._

Arata blinked at the message before he sat the white board back down. "Ami lives next door?" he said to himself. "I'll talk to her once I get all my things in here and after I rearrange my room."

Ami was busy working on her homework. She has nothing else to do really. Every Monday and Tuesday she gets one, maybe two, weeks of all her classes homework done. The rest of the week she draws, read, and write. She might play some games on her digivice, but she doesn't get on it much anymore. She used to enjoy chatting online with her friends until they blocked her. Nokia warned her about it, but it isn't like Ami was lying or making excuses on purpose.

She's sick and her mother forbids her from leaving the house. Her room actually but she didn't want her friends to think she was in a bad situation or that her mother could be abusing her.

It startled her when her digivice went off with a digi-line message. She erased the word that she wrote before she looked at her message and almost dropped the electrical device.

Arata: _Is there a reason as to why you can't leave your house._

Ami: _I believe I have told all of you that I'm sick and she doesn't want me to leave._

She couldn't even finish rewriting the word before it went off again.

Arata: _Let me rephrase my question._

Arata: _Is there a reason as to why you can't leave your room?_

Ami tapped her fingers against her desk. How should she respond to someone who un-blocked her and just asked the reason over her secret. Quite bluntly too, but the bigger question was, how did he know?

Ami _I have no idea over what you are talking about._

Arata let out a small laugh when he read her response. He could tell she was angry and he didn't know what to expect for her answers would be, but it suits her. He placed the book on the bookshelf and took a picture of the whiteboard.

Ami looked at her digivice and was tempted to ignore it, but when it went off a second time she couldn't resist the temptation. It was nice to be talking to someone in the outside world again. Her heart went to her throat as she saw the whiteboard with familiar handwriting.

Arata: _Uh-huh. Then explain this message._

Arata had finished placing his books, animes, and figurines on his bookshelf and still hadn't gotten a response. He wonders if he dropped the news to soon and pushed her away. He started to put his bed together next to his desk.

He was hoping that maybe he can get Ami to talk to him again so he had purposely positioned his desk in front of the window. He checked his digivice and was surprised that he had two messages from Ami.

Ami: _You are my new neighbor_

Ami: _Aren't you?_

Arata: _Yep. I also happened to have the room across from yours._

Ami: _Give me one good reason as to why I should tell you or anyone out of what you guys did to me?_

Arata winced. She had a point and she has every right to keep her guard up. She did everything they wanted her to do, but after she returned to her physical body, she asked them to do one thing and they refused.

Ami looked at her digivice as it went off. She laughed coldly at the response as someone in a white coat entered her room. She found it ironic that he'll offer it to her now when she's a chained bird instead of when she was free.

"Ami, are you okay?" the person asked.

"Yes, grandma, I'm fine. Let me finish this message and I will get ready for the check-up," Ami said.

Arata: _I will take you to the ocean._

He knew he was pulling a cheap move that had a long shot of actually working. He knew that she was going to get angry and he knew that she had every right. He was hoping that her response will give him some kind of clue as to her predicament.

He dropped his clothes that he just got out of the box to look at his digivice. Her response made him confused.

 _Ami: Nice try, but no thank you._

Ami: _It's too late for me to go there anymore._

Arata: _What do you mean?_

He wasn't going to get a response that night and it was going to be a while before he did. Ami had every right to block him and he accepted it. Not that he wanted too, but he didn't have time to take care of himself again. His parents were almost always gone and if they were at home it would be arguing. So since he's the oldest, he's been busy taking care of his five younger siblings while getting all of his homework done.

It wasn't until months later that Ami messaged Arata. He looked over at his digivice and was thankful for the distraction. The words in his textbook was starting to blur. He was surprised to see that it was from Ami since he thought she blocked him.

Ami: _You look like you could collapse at any minute. Is everything okay?_

Arata sighed and looked at the window. Ami was sitting on her window seat which seemed to be her favorite spot he noticed. She tilted her head to the side as she held up the whiteboard.

 _Are you okay?_

Arata shook his head. He pulled out the whiteboard and marker. He looked back over Ami to see that she was drawing. She looked back up and over out the window as he held his whiteboard up.

 _I'm fine and everything is okay._

Ami rolled her eyes which caused Arata to smirk as she erased her message. When she held it back up, his smirk vanished.

 _Liar. You look like I do seconds before I collapse. Respond to me via Digi-line. I'm sure it is easier for you._

Arata erased his message and left the board on top of his desk. He picked up his digivice and amd started to type.

Arata: _Just stressed. Family matters and school._

Ami: _We go to the same school so why don't you just ask the school for help?_

Arata: _The school won't be able to help me._

Ami: _I'm sorry, but if the school can push assignments back because a student was planning the biggest house party when their parents went on vacation, they can help you._

Arata: _That's good and all but no thank you._

Ami: _Then ask me for help!_

Ami watched as Arata rubbed his eyes. She knew he was getting weaker and weaker and wonders if it is because of his parents are never home. She's been trying to ask him but he always seemed to be busy and she didn't want to make matters worse for him.

Her eyes widened as Arata tried to stand up only to fall to the ground. She waited a couple of seconds before she rushed out of her room.

When Arata woke up, he was on his bed and the smell of ramen was attacking his nose. He sat up and on his desk was a bowl of ramen.

"Oh, you're awake," a female voice said. "That's good you had us worried."

"Us? Who are you?" Arata asked as he turned to face the unfamiliar woman.

The lady had grey hair in a bun, her black eyes were hidden behind wrinkles and she wore a white lab coat over a pink shirt and black pants.

"I'm just a retired doctor," she said. "Your brothers and sisters have already been fed and put to bed. I forgot how much energy young children have."

Questions were racing through his mind. He watched as the lady walked to his desk.

"You should eat and get some well deserved rest," the lady said. "I won't notify your parents if you do one thing."

"What's that?"

"Come over next door and visit," the lady said. "We could always use some company."

After the lady left, Arata went to his desk and looked out the window. Ami was asleep with her head using the window as a pillow. The white board was leaning against the window. He read what it said.

 _Don't scare me like that, please._

"You still care, even after how we treated you," Arata said to himself with a small smile.

In two days, Arata found himself standing in front of the door and rang the doorbell. He talked to his school and let them know that his parents are barely home so he's been taking care of his five younger siblings. They put him in online classes but he's still a little bit behind.

"Oh! Hello there!" the doctor lady said as she opened the door. "Please come in. Sorry for all the desensitization you are going to be going through. I find it to be just as annoying as much as my granddaughter does." She looked at the young man. "You are a Sanada, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"If I need to can I take a sample of your blood?"

"Why?"

"Your family has a history of NOT having any allergies," she said. "I want to try something with it if the need arises for it."

Arata looked at her and saw that she was serious and thinking of someone else. "Can you go into more details?"

"I would tell you, but I need to use your blood than it would ruin the surprise," the lady said with a wink.

"If you need to than sure," Arata said and picked his stuff up after everything got desensitized. "So, where is Ami?"

"She's in her room, she has no idea that you are here," the lady said. "Just go up the stairs and head right. Her door is on the right. You can't miss it since it's glass."

"Thanks," Arata said. He followed the lady's directions and found the glass door. The door opened automatically and he entered the room. He saw Ami at her desk drawing and it seemed like she didn't hear him come in.

"You were right," Arata said. He smirked as Ami jumped in surprised and faced him him with wide eyes. "The school is giving me some help since I'm taking care of my five siblings alone again."

"Five siblings?" Ami said placing her pencil down.

"Yep," he said. "So, I'm taking your advice and also asking for you for hel. I'm still behind and I don't like it."

She motioned to her bed. "You have five siblings? That could be why you collapsed."

"Yes, I am presuming your grandmother came over and helped," Arata said. He placed his bag down on her bed before he looked at her. "Can I be blunt with you?"

"You are asking for my permission to be blunt?" Ami said in confusion. "Maybe you fall did some brain damage since that isn't like you."

"I haven't even been here for five minutes and this house feels like a prison and your room feels like a -"

"Cage." Ami said. "I know. I used to be oblivious to the fact but I had a chance of experiencing the outside world and see it now. What can I do, however?"

"Why?"

"You've asked me that once Arata. I still don't feel comfortable talking to you about it yet."

"I understand," Arata said. "I would like to know if-"

"I'm not being abused. That's why I said house not room. I knew all of you would jump to that conclusion," Ami said. "I'm already enough trouble to my mother and I hate causing her even more trouble." Ami turned to the side and pulled out one of her desk drawers. "So what do you need help with?"

Months passed and it was getting close to Ami's birthday. Her grandmother had injected a shot in her and was waiting to see the results. Arata was getting close to a breaking point with his family so he often took refuge in Ami's room.

"I want to leave for a week," Arata said to Ami one day. "I just want to be gone for a week without telling my family. I'm sure they won't care."

"I can understand that, but I know you. You won't leave your responsibilities to your brother," Ami said. "However, you need a break from all this stress with your family."

"I know, and I had a week planned out to where I wouldn't be with my parents. They knew that I had everything reserved and paid to go to a convention, but no. They placed me in charge and wouldn't even listen to me or that I already had plans."

"Has the convention already happened?" Ami asked.

"No, I was going to take my youngest sister with me but she has summer camp so I have an extra ticket," Arata said.

"Well, I'm sure grandma can babysit for you," Ami said. "She would scold your parents too."

"I might take her up on that," Arata said. "However, I need someone to fill in that extra ticket and someone's birthday is coming up."

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ami asked. "You know I can't go with you."

"It's on your wishlist plus it is near the ocean," Arata said. "Your grandmother thinks it will be best for you as well."

"My grandmother keeps thinking that I'm a normal person. I can't leave my room!"

"You can't or you won't?"

"I can't," Ami said. She wrapped her arms around her waist. "Arata, I would die."

"How? I mean, yes, there are multiple factors that could cause a death from point A to point B but-"

"Would die, not could die. Arata, I'm allergic to everything. I can't go outside because the air or anything could kill me," Ami said. "My food has to be prepared a certain way otherwise it could kill me."

"That's why you couldn't hang out with us anymore," Arata said hiding his surprise. "But is it really worth living live this way if you can't truly live? I mean you was fine for a month after you returned back to your body."

"I know. I don't know why my body didn't collapse sooner and mom hasn't been home so I could ask," Ami said. "I don't want to live my life this way, but what choice do I have? Mom is the one who makes the rules. My grandma does let me get away with a lot of things that Mom won't.

"Like what?"

"You," Ami said. Arata stared at her in confusion which caused Ami to smile. "Mom would never allow me to have any visitors."

"Hey, I need to check something out at home," Arata said. "Can I send you the result?"

"Yeah, of course," Ami said.

"Thanks, I'll be back.

The next day, Ami looked at the email Arata sent her as her grandma came into the room and saw the teenage girl started to get mad.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. "I mean, I have something good to tell you, but it would lose the effect if you are mad."

"No, everything is not okay!" Ami said standing up from her chair and causing it to fall over. "Grandma! Arata sent me my medical records from when I was in EDEN Syndrome and when I collapse." She turned to glare at her grandmother. "I have zero allergies and zero immune system problems."

"Oh! Great minds think alike," her grandma said. "That was the good news I was going to tell."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Ami yelled at her grandma.

"Because I just found out," her grandma said. "I'm a retired doctor and even through your mother left me in charge of you, she won't let me see your medical records which raised a red flag. I wasn't sure through until last night, but you was already asleep."

Ami calmed down. Her grandmother has never lied to her before but she knows her mother has. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember that shot I gave you?" her grandmother said. Ami nodded. "Well, if you did what your mother said you had, you would be in the hospital by now."

"Why would Mom lie about that through?" Ami asked.

"Your father died in a subway accident and I don't think she has moved on yet."

Ami's digivice went off. She looked at it.

Arata: _Let me ask it properly. Would you like to go with me to the convention and to the ocean?_

"Is it that young man?" her grandmother asked.

"Yes."

"Go ahead and go with him, but leave your glove here. This way, your mother won't be able to track you." She leaned up and kissed Ami's forehead. "Spread your wings, Ami."

"Thank you, Grandma," Ami said as she took her glove off and sent a message to her friend.

Ami: _I would love too._


	6. Humanity

Title: Birthday Countdown 2018

Rating: T

Category: Digimon

Pairing: Ami/Arata

Summary: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I use prompts to create a story everyday until my birthday. This is my birthday gifts to all of you. Please read and review and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters within the story and prompts.

Special thanks to my friend who gave me the prompts for this year.

I'm sorry if this one gets uploaded late this year. I have a terrible mirgriane.

Chapter 6 - Humanity

Prompt Summary: Eons ago, Ami asked for her birthday was to be friends with Arata. Her father went too far and arranged for them to be married. The marriage never happened and Arata is tasked at finding Ami before it is too late. Ancient Gods AU

~~Story begins~~

"Daddy," a little girl with blue eyes said to an imposing figure. "I know what I want for my birthday."

"Oh, and what would that be?" the figure asked.

"The young boy who is always by himself, I wanna be friends with him, but I'm too shy," she said.

"Oh! You mean the young Arata?" the figure said with a laugh. "That wouldn't be a problem."

The next day, a young boy with black hair and grey eyes cornered the young girl. "What did you do?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"Don't play stupid! What did you do?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," the girl said. This isn't how humans start their friendships and this surely isn't what she referred to when asked to be his friend.

"Your father - the ruler of all gods - had announced that we are getting married! So, what did you do?"

"I didn't want that," she said as her eyes widened. "I just wanted to be your friend!"

"What makes you think I want to be friends with someone like you?" he asked in a snare.

Arata woke up with a start. He grabbed his forehead and let out a loud sigh.

"The same dream," he said to himself. "I guess we have been known to hold grudges, but her mother can cut me some slack." He removed his hand from his forehead and looked straight ahead at his computer. "Especially since I found her."

For the last 16 thousand years, Arata has been looking for the beloved daughter, favorite niece, and the popular young goddess, Ami. 16 thousand years of sleepless nights, multiple nightmares, and hours of searching.

Ami ran away after he confronted her and no one was able to find her. So, as punishment, the gods banished Arata from the summit and to find her before 17 thousand years pass. If he doesn't bring her back to the summit by then, they'll both lose their immortality and with it, their powers.

He got off of his bed and went to his computer. Today is the day that he will talk to her, to apologize to her for all those years ago.

Ami knew Arata had been looking for her, why she doesn't know. She does know that after seeing him after so long, she was still drawn to him and she was able to identify the human feeling she's been having. She loved him, but he knows he doesn't love her. She was seen as untouchable, but also the biggest weakness to her family.

What good was the power of light when the order of daytime and fire where already established in the world before she was born?

Arata never treated her like she was special, that she deserved the highest of praises or to look down upon due to her useless power. He didn't go out of his way for her and that's what originally drew her into him. He treated her like she was everything else.

That is all she wanted in a friend, was someone who didn't treat her differently due to her parents influence in the world. A friend who could she trust.

She met up with Arata like he asked her too. She was already at Galactic Park and pushed herself back and forth on the swing as she waited. She smiled at him as he got closer.

"I'm not going back," Ami said. "If that's the reason you asked me to meet here."

"I really don't want to use force," Arata said. "I also forgot what it felt like to have a good night sleep."

"I'm sorry for whatever is troubling you, but my decision is final. I'm not going back, it isn't like I'm needed there," Ami said as she continued to swing. "Do you know why I wanted to be your friend?"

"Because you wanted me to treat you like the other gods and goddess," he said.

He was always told to show Ami more respect, but at the time he believed she didn't deserve it. Now, after the whole Digimon ordeal, he knows she more than deserves it.

"No, because you treated me like you treated everyone else, including humans. I was no different in your mind and I enjoyed that," she said. "You really don't know who would be a good friend if they are constantly looking for ways to betray you."

She got off of the swing and went to walk away, but he grabbed her arm without fear. Cyberspace being the only place area that they could touch each other without hurting themselves.

Light and dark never got along. They learned that when they were children and he accidentally ran into her. His skin felt like it was in a fire while hers felt like it was in the underworld. The effects lasted for two weeks.

"If you stay here, you'll lose your immortality and powers, so wouldn't ," Arata said. "It's a punishment your father thought would be appropriate for me."

"My father should be the one punished, Ami said. She twisted her arm out of his grasp. "Sorry for putting you in the middle of this."

Arata watched her as she logged off, a sigh escaped his lips. "There's no doubt about it that you are stubborn."

Later in the day, Ami and Arata were acting like their meeting never took place, but on the inside, Arata was trying to figure out as why his powers rose when Yuugo sat next to Ami.

"So, Ami," Nokia said as she ate her egg and rice omelet. "Are you ready for your blind date tonight?"

Arata started to choke on his drink and he found it difficult to cough and keep his power in check since it increased again.

Suddenly, his power calmed down as another power floated through his body. It was warm and it rose to his throat which caused him to being able to swallow the rest of the drink.

"Thanks," he said to Yuuko as he looked at her. He snuck a glance over at Ami who nodded a little but he wasn't sure if she acknowledged him or if she had just responded to something that Yuugo said. "So, you have a blind date tonight?"

"Yeah, I'm somewhat looking forward to it," she said in response clueless over how his power rose back up even when her eyes shifted to the right a little.

A sign that she was lying.

"Well then, I wish you luck," Arata said swallowing his power and bile down. His heart clenched at the fact that she started to look at other potential suitors, but he could tell that she didn't want too.

"You want me to do what?" Ami asked in the comfort of her own apartment. Arata had came over while she was in the process of doing her hair.

"Cancel. You don't want to go," Arata said.

He was trying to keep her away from those who could take her away from him. Even now, he could have abducted her brought her back to the summit, but he didn't want her parents to take her away from either. Why? He doesn't know, but he does know that he is concerned with her safety, that something doesn't sit right well with him tonight, and his powers were acting on their own accord.

"Absolutely not," Ami said as she crossed her arms. "I can't just cancel because you want me too. It would be rude, plus why should I?"

"Then let me go with you," he said. "I can be like the overprotective brother like friend."

"No! I'm I'm not going to have you ruin my night. Besides, I'm the one who asked Nokia to set up the blind date."

"Why would you do that?"

"Why are you so concerned?

"You've seen what happens to gods and goddesses who fell in love with a mortal!"

"Well, from my understanding is that soon I won't be a goddess," Ami said.

Arata hated to exploit her weakness. She was too kind and gentle and will always put herself last. She couldn't deny when someone asked her to do a favor if she felt comfortable doing it.

"Please," Arata said. "Since you refuse to cancel and let me join, then can you please do me a favor?"

He knew that got her attention. Her body shifted a bit towards him and her eyes focused on him through the mirror. He walked behind her and within seconds, shadows engaged his hand and disappeared.

"Wear this tonight," he said. He held up his hand that had a gold chain wrapped around his hand and dangling in the air was a teardrop onyx.

Ami closed her eyes and nodded. "Very well, I will return it to you tomorrow."

She gasped as cool material touched her usual warm skin. She opened her eyes and saw that Arata had put the necklace on her, being careful not to touch her skin. The necklace stopped right on the top part of her chest.

"Thank you," Arata said as he clasped the necklace behind her neck and moved her hair out from underneath the chain. He wanted to say that she can keep it, but bit his tongue. "Just know that if something feels off or you get in trouble, just call."

"Thank you, I will keep that in mind," Ami said.

Arata left her apartment and Ami held onto the onyx tightly. "Why are you so concerned with my well-being and safety?" she asked to her reflection in the mirror. "You said you didn't want to be friends with me."

Ami went on the date and she had a good time, but something was off. She felt that her date was sizing her up and was pretty a price on her. She brushed it off as her nerves and the paranoia Arata put on her. She did have her guard up and all through dinner and throughout the night while they danced, she never let her guard down.

She put her guard down when they were parting for the night. They each had to go to a separate way so Ami didn't think twice about it as they said their goodbyes. She turned around when an arm wrapped itself around her back and another wrapped around her neck with the hand covering her mouth.

A car pulled to the side and within seconds, she was inside the car with a bag over her head. When the bag was finally removed from her head, Ami took her new surroundings.

She was in a densely tree populated area and before she could get bearings, get an idea over where her date had taken her to, she was spun around and pushed into a tree.

She saw her date and another man smiling at her. Her date had caught her wrists when she went to push him away. He held her wrists up over her head.

"Let me go!" she yelled. "Stop! Someone help!"

The other man chuckled at her struggles. "With screams and lungs like that, she's going to bring in a pretty penny," the man said.

She couldn't fight them. She tried to break free from her date's grasp, but every time her feet slid, she was put at a greater disadvantage. Her powers wouldn't be able to help her fight. They couldn't harm anyone when she was in training, she couldn't even blind them.

The men kept laughing at her as they discussed over what her starting price will be. Their discussion and laughter stopped as Ami, with the last of her hope, let out a high-pitch blood-curdling scream that allowed all of lot of her power to leave a trail in the unlikely chance of him coming to save her.

"Arata!"

"I really should have told her to message me when she got home," Arata said to himself. "Why do I worry so much?"

Ever since he left her apartment, he's been thinking of all the things he could have done to talk her out of going on this date. He will deny it, but he knows he feels at fault for her running away. It's all because he didn't have a chance to learn from her on how to control his emotions.

Everyone knew that her father couldn't wait to marry her off. So when he found out that he was suddenly engaged to her, he was mad not at her, but at her father.

It was no secret that Ami wanted to marry out of love and not out of responsibility and commitment. However, he pushed his anger on her.

"She should never have wanted to by my friend," Arata said looking at his hand. "All I ever did was hurt her due to our powers."

"Arata!"

He sat upright as he heard his name being called. He sensed the warm power from before -Ami's power - that left a trail for him to follow.

He went into the shadows and traveled amongst them as he followed the trail. He opened the vision of the black onyx he gave to Ami and fury like never before flowed through his veins, mind, and magic.

"Are you calling for your savior that won't come?" her date asked as he slid his fingers underneath the necklace. "The one who gave this to you."

He broke off the necklace off of her neck and held it up to show his friend. "No!" Ami yelled as she fought back her tears.

She knows why she called his name, he wanted him to save her, but she didn't mean to get him involved with another one of her messes. Maybe she should quit struggling and allow them to sell her. Maybe that will make his life easier.

Her date tossed her to the side and on the ground. Well, he attempted too. Ami had tried to stay on her feet, to use the momentum from his toss to help her escape. However, something stopped her from tripping over her feet and her face was pressed against something that was hard, cool, and black.

"Uh? Hey! Who are you?" the man asked as Ami felt an arm wrap around her waist which helped her get back on the flats of her feet.

Ami looked up and gasped at her savior. She didn't think he would come, how did he even hear her?

"I would suggest that you return the necklace and apologize," Arata said. His white and blue overcoat had changed to a pure black overcoat.

"I don't think so, why don't you hand over the girl. We won't hurt you, in fact we will even cut you a deal from how much she sell," the man said.

"Ami" Arata said in a low voice and she could feel his anger. "Press your face against my chest and don't look back."

Ami pressed her forehead against his chest as she clung onto the cool material of his clothing. She felt his arm tighten around her and soon she could feel power flying by her head. Within seconds, screams filled the night sky.

Arata wasn't going to take it easy on these two humans. He held her close to him as his power flowed through his veins in a fury.

The screams finally stopped and Arata watched as the two men burnt ashes flew into the wind.

"Arata," Ami said once the screams stopped and he could hear her tears in her voice. She tried to push herself away from him, but he was stronger than her and he wouldn't let her go. "Are you okay?"

"Stop trying to distance yourself away from me," he said. He than let out a sigh. "Really, you are asking me if I am okay when you were almost an item at a black market."

"I don't want to hurt you anymore than what I already have," Ami said as she looked up at him so close to tears.

His fury vanished as he looked at her. This whole entire time in the human world, he's just viewed her as another goddess. Now, he sees that she's fragile and delicate and quite feminine even after all of her troubles.

Than he realized that his skin didn't feel like it was tossed into an inferno. In fact, he didn't feel anything at all except maybe a bit warmer than usual.

"You aren't hurting me," Arata said. "Are you okay? What happened?

"I - I don't know," she said with a shaky voice. This wasn't the Ami he knows but he's glad that she trusts him enough to show this side to him. The side that makes him believe that she's a human and not a goddess. "I'm sorry. I brought you into another one of my messes."

She looked down. "I will go back to the summit. I need to talk to them about something."

Arata was glad that she was already close to him as she collapsed. "You used a lot of power today that you have haven't used in a long time," he said gently to her as he picked her up."

The next morning, Arata rolled out of his bed. "Ow," he groaned.

"That's one way to wake up in the morning," he heard someone say trying not to giggle. "Most people set alarms."

He sat up and looked at Ami with a glare. "Don't mention it."

She giggled as he got up and stretched. "Well, you have completed your mission. I went to the summit and talked to my parents. Who knew I was the goddess of hope? Anyway you may return to the summit anytime," she said.

"You did not know what you was a goddess of?" Arata asked. "Everyone knew it."

"No one told me," Ami said with a pout. "That explains a lot of things through. Anyway, I might see you at the summit sometime."

"Huh?" Arata said. "Hey! Wait!" he yelled as Ami disappeared into specks of light and left his apartment.

Ami was eating a pork cutlet with Yuuko and Yuugo as they waited for Nokia and Arata. She was sure that Arata would finally go back to the summit and stay. She made him lose a lot of years of being able to study.

"Oh! Arata! You are finally here," Yuugo said.

"Yeah, sorry, but I can't stay long," Arata said. "I actually have a case for Ami." He looked at her. "I'm sorry, but I need your help immediately."

"No, that's fine," Ami said as she stood up. "Let me go and pay and I'll be right with you."

"Sorry guys," Arata said. "Maybe next time."

"It's okay," Yuugo said as Ami and Arata left.

When they were outside, Ami started the conversation. "So, what's this case you need me for?" she asked.

"I lied. I don't have a case for you," Arata said. "I just wanted to talk to you alone."

He grabbed her wrist and led her to an alley before he created a shadow field to hide them from prying eyes.

"Why are you even here, Arata?" Ami said. "I thought for sure you would be back at the summit making up for lost time in the library."

He tried, but he wasn't able to concentrate. He always had that problem when she wasn't around him.

"I already have and came back," Arata said. "I came back because someone left my apartment too soon."

"Sorry, but I needed to do things," she said. "I had to retrieve this for you. I promised I would return it to you."

She held up her hand and the necklace he loaned her was there.

Arata went to reach the necklace, but as Ami opened her hand to let the necklace fall into his, he had grabbed her hand. The necklace caught between the two hands had the onyx dangling in the air. His other hand reached up and cupped one side of her face as he kissed her.

Ami's widened in surprise, but he didn't let her go, not even when she got over the surprise and started to kiss him back. She knew she could trust him so she allowed herself to relax.

When Arata finally pulled back from the kiss. Ami opened her eyes and stared at him.

"Arata?" she said.

"Keep the necklace," he said. "This way if you get in trouble, I'll be there to save you and to protect you."

"Why? I thought you hated me?"

"I have never hated you. Where did you get that from?" Arata used his thumb to stroke her cheek as he continued to talk. "If I hated you, I wouldn't have came to rescue you when you yelled my name. Why did you yell my name anyway?"

Ami blusher and her eyes shifted to the right. "I don't know."

"You know, when you lie, your eyes shift to the right," Arata said with a smirk. She looked at him in surprise. "You could have yelled for your father, the all-powerful of the gods - but you yelled for me."

Ami's blush got redder and Arata let go of her hand, the necklace dropping to the ground and going back into the shadows, and cupped the other side of her face as he stepped closer to her.

"You yelled for me because you wanted me to save you," Arata said.

"Yes," Ami said in a meek whisper.

"I'm glad that I can be the one you think of first," Arata said before leaning in and kissing her.


	7. Deviant

**Title: Birthday Countdown 2018**

 **Rating: T**

 **Category: Digimon**

 **Pairing: Ami/Arata**

 **Summary: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I use prompts to create a story everyday until my birthday. This is my birthday gifts to all of you. Please read and review and enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters within the story and prompts.**

 **Special thanks to my friend who gave me the prompts for this year.**

 _Prompt Summary: Ami is hiding something from her friends ever since she turned eighteen. However, a summer trip takes an unexpected turn causing Arata and Ami to share a hotel room. Will Ami let her guard down around him?_

 _~~Story Begins~~_

"Ami, aren't you hot in those sleeves?" Yuugo asked Ami as they waited in a hotel lobby.

"No, I'm fine," Ami said with a smile.

"Why do you never ask me that question," Arata asked as he crossed his arms.

"Because you've been wearing long sleeves forever," Yuuko said. "Ami just started wearing them like two years ago."

"Well, Arata," Ami said while she was chuckling. "Aren't you hot in those sleeves?" To help prove her point, Ami reached over on her chair and tugged on his coat sleeve.

"I'm a little warm, but I can handle it. Thanks for asking," Arata said pulling his sleeve away with a smirk.

"I swear you two just make it feel hotter whenever I look at you two," Yuuko said with a sigh.

Arata was wearing an updated white and blue overcoat. Ami was wearing a yellow long sleeve shirt and a long grey skirt, Yuugo was wearing a white t-shirt and blue shorts, and Yuuko was wearing a black t-shirt and a white skirt while she was fanning herself with one of the hotel's pamphlets.

"The point of the vacation is to cool off," Yuugo said.

"Kids," a man said as he walked towards them with Rie Kishibe on his arm.

"We are young adults!" Yuuko said in annoyance causing the man to laugh for a second. "So, is everything okay?"

"There was a glitch in the computer system so none of the reservations were saved. They have offered to give us three rooms, but there's a problem," the man said.

"They can handle it," Rie said patting her husband's arm. "The three rooms only have a single bed and Yuuko's fear of storms -"

"I see that is a problem," Yuugo said. "However, it won't matter. It's obvious that you two are going to share a room and if Ami and Arata are fine with us swapping roommates."

The man looked over at Ami and Arata. "Would you two mind sharing a room while we are here? The weather reports says that they are expecting storms for the next two days."

"I have no problem with it," Ami said with a smile. "I mean if it will make Yuuko feel better I can always swap rooms."

"What about you, Mr. Sanada?" the man said.

Arata felt the back of his left shoulder and his right arm get heavy. He'll just have to be careful on a whole different level since he is sharing a room with a girl, and not just any girl. Oh no, he had to be sharing a room with the girl who he has a crush on.

"No, it's fine," Arata said with a shake of his head.

"Thank you," Yuuko said.

"Now, let's go get some shut eye. It's been a long day," Rie said.

Ami and Arata's hotel room was on the opposite side of the hotel from the other two rooms so they were exploring the hallways trying to find their own room.

"If there is a couch, I'll call it. If not, then I call the chair if it looks comfy. If not, than floor," Ami said as she looked at one side of the hallway.

"You do that all the time according to Yuuko, why?" Arata asked.

"My aunt took care of me when my mom had to go overseas," Ami said. "I used to share a bed with my cousin because it was a small house, but than we both got picked on. So to stop them from picking on my cousin, I slept on the floor, couch, or chair." She chuckled a bit to herself. "I guess it just carried over due to all the work that I do."

"Found it," Arata said. He slid his keycard over the key reader and opened the door. "There's a chair here, but no couch."

"Eh, that's okay. I was getting spoiled off of the couches."

The next day, in order to get Yuuko's mind off of the storm, everyone minus Ami, went to the inside pool. Arata didn't swim with them, but he did enjoy teasing them. However, that could be only entertaining for so long since he didn't have anyone to talk to.

"Hey, I'm heading back to my room," Arata said.

"Okay, cya tomorrow," Yuuko said.

Arata got in front of the door and went to slide his keycard as he heard, "-icky."

"Icky?" Arata said under his breath as he opened the door.

"Send me the picture of what he wants cover-up along with a list of what he wants it to change too," he heard Ami say and stopped as he saw it.

She was wearing a yellow tank-top and a black short skirt as she was bent ruffing her hair with a fluffy white towel, but what caught his attention was the amount of color on her arms and legs.

"He sounds like he's going to be one of the customers that no matter what the end result is, he's not going to like it. You'll have to make him sign the contract and I'll make three designs for him to choose from."

Arata heard a man's voice with an accent that sounded like european. "Thank you so much! You are like the best."

"Ja, ja, save the fluttery for later," Ami said as Arata noticed that her japanese accent was replaced by the european accent as the one who she is talking too. "You're going to be buying all of my Buck Star's next summer to make up for today."

"What? But that's a lot!" the voice said with a whine as Ami finally stood up straight.

She noticed Arata and she jumped as she let out a small sound of surprise.

"Ami! Are you okay?" the voice said over her digivice.

"I'm fine, Takumi," Ami said as she turned around and Arata tilted his head as he saw more colors on her back. "I got to go. Don't forget to message me the pictures and wants."

She hung up and turned around to face Arata with a glare. "Oh mein Gott! Ich hatte fast einen herzinfarkt, was zum geier sollte das?!" she said to him.

"I have no clue what you saying so I'm going to guess that you are cussing at me right now. What language are you even speaking right now? Italian?"

"German! Really? Did you have to scare me like that? I mean now it's bad enough that you think I'm part of the Yakuza, but you did not need to give me a heart attack!"

"You know German?"

"I know many languages," Ami said before pinching her nose and letting out a sigh. "If you are going to tell the others about my tattoos than please wait until we are back in Tokyo."

"I'm not gonna tell," Arata said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Besides you are too soft-hearted to be a part of the Yakuza. I'm actually jealous."

"Why?"

"Because your tattoos are pretty amazing, not just in design but also in color," Arata said. He rubbed the back of his neck, "unlike mine."

"You have tätowierung?" Ami asked as her head tilted to the side.

"I have what?"

"Tattoo."

"I have two of them. They aren't as professional as yours," Arata said.

"Can I see them?" Ami said with a light in her eyes. "Please Arata."

"I can show you one," Arata said. He was confused over why she was so excited over it. "It's hard to actually hide but I am getting way to hot in this." He took off his overcoat and revealed a blue shirt and pants.

Ami grabbed his right arm and looked at the unfinished and poorly designed tattoo that was just lines going in every directions. "This looks like the work of Kono Taki," Ami said.

"Both of my tattoos are from him, I'm surprised you know him."

"I'm surprised that you was actually gullible enough to believe him without any research," Ami said as she turned his arm around and traced her fingers against the maze on his arm. "He's known as a scammer in the tattoo industry. What were you hoping for it to be?"

"Honestly, I don't care about this one," Arata said as she let go of his arm. "I know that I'm never getting another tattoo again."

"Can I see the other one?"

"No," Arata said shaking his head. "I'm ashamed of it even being on me."

"Please, I might be able to help you," Ami said. "It's been proven that a bad tattoo lowers one self-confidence."

"No," Arata said as he laid on the bed. "No one is going to be seeing it."

Ami sat on the bed next to Arata after rolling her eyes. The silence between them was comfortable. Ami was doing something on her digivice while Arata found a semi interesting show on TV.

"Your other tattoo wouldn't be a black dot with a six sticks branching out? Really? Like is that supposed to be the itsy bitsy spider?" Ami asked.

Arata looked at her with a curious expression. "How?" he asked.

"So, yes," Ami said. "Rumor was going around in the industry that Kono likes to take pictures of the tattoos he put on people he scammed. Something about feeling accomplished with himself. So since I have his number, I decided to hack into his digivice to see if the rumor is true. He's not very creative with his gallery names."

"Well, it turns out that I happen to be a bad influence to you. Yes, that's my other tattoo it was supposed to be of Infermon. Wait a minute," Arata said glaring at her. "Why do you have his number?"

"Because he gave it to me. He thought I was cute and wanted to date me. Dude wouldn't take no for an answer every time he asked me out. I finally blocked him but it got ridiculous when he started to stalk me. One of my friends put an end to it through so he doesn't bother me anymore."

"Ah. That makes sense."

"Back to the topic at hand, that could still be turned into Infermon, it's going to be tricky, but it is possible," Ami said. "Also that isn't the worse I seen.

"What do you mean by that? My tattoos are terrible and you saw that they aren't the worse that you have seen? How many tattoos have you seen?"

"Mmm, I'll make a deal with you," Ami said changing the topic. "In reality, you'll be getting the better deal, but hear me out. I understand that you refuse to get another tattoo, but there are really legit and amazing artists out there. I can introduce you to them to the top three I recommend. One of them is the one who does my own tattoos. I'll give them the designs to use but you will not see the finished product at the end. All of that for free. In return, you work at my cousin's tattoo shop in Linz as their accountant and receptionist."

"Whoa, hold on! You are asking me to go get another tattoo blindly with people who you trust?" Arata said holding his hands up in the air.

"Yes."

"You want me to trust these people by taking their word?"

"And mine since I'm making the designs," Ami said. She watched as Arata was still hesitant about the deal. "If it makes you feel any better, all of the tattoos that I have, I designed them."

"You designed all of those?" Arata asked.

"Yes. You might not believe it but I do keep myself entertained while you guys are out doing activities that I can't join in," Ami said with a pout. "Also, if you want a color than you'll be getting done that for free too."

"I will accept the deal on two more conditions," Arata said. "You explain the inspirations over your own tattoos and let me see some more of your designs."

Ami giggled a little bit. "Greedy much, aren't you? I will accept those conditions."

"And the only reason why I'm doing this is because I trust you," Arata said.

"I'm glad you can trust me so much," Ami said with a smile.

A month later, Arata and Ami were inside a tattoo parlor. The brown reception desk was empty, but three of the four parlor doors were closed.

"This is a weird place," Arata said in english as he looked around at the place. It was well clean and music wasn't being played at a ridiculous loud volume like it was when he got his tattoos.

"It gets that a lot. This isn't really a stereotypical shop," Ami said.

"Ami? Is that you?" a male voice said in english. Then in the open parlor door, a spiked small afro of the red hair and familiar blue eyes appeared. "It is! Welcome back again."

"You don't have to welcome me back every winter," Ami said with a sigh. "It's not like I have much of a choice."

"That is true," the man said.

"Anyway," Ami said waving her hand. "Anyway, Arata, this is my cousin Takumi. He's the one I was telling you about that does my own tattoos. Here's the first one I would recommend for you."

"Why are you recommending me?" Takumi asked. "Is he a virgin?"

"That's a bit too personnel," Arata said flatly.

Ami rolled her eyes. "No he's not, Takumi. He wants two cover-ups."

Takumi stared at Arata before he stared at Ami. "Is this the Arata guy that you offered our vacant position too?" Takumi asked.

"Our?" Arata said.

"Ja," Ami said.

"So, he's the one getting the deal?" Takumi said. Ami nodded her head. "And two full package cover-ups for free?"

"Yes."

"So, I'm one of the three selected for this?" Takumi said as he finally got out of the room. Arata saw that Takumi was covered in tattoos.

"You do my tattoos and I promised him that I would introduce him to the top three people who I would trust," Ami said.

"May I see one?" Takumi said to Arata. "Ami might have the designs done, but cover-ups are my weakness."

"Yes, since it is getting worked one, but because this country is more lax about tattoos," Arata said rolling up his sleeve.

One of the doors opened and a man with more skin than tattoos came out of it. He saw the tattoo and let out a whistle.

"Dude, that's a bad tat if I ever saw one," he said.

"That's way beyond my limits," Takumi said.

"Shut up, Clive!" Ami said as Arata pushed his sleeve back down."He knows its bad which is why he's agreed to a cover-up."

"Oh! Our fearless leader is back," Clive said. "We have long awaited your exotic beauty to return."

"Fearless leader?" Arata said while Ami let out a sigh.

"Dude, stop hitting on my cousin," Takumi said.

"It's fun through," Clive said.

"So, Ami hasn't told you?" a female asked from behind them. Arata and Ami turned around to see a petite woman.

"Heyo Lilly!" Ami said. "Arata, this is Lilly. She's like Nokia only not as hyper or confused. She's two of the three I would recommend. The person arguing with Takumi is the third recommend. His name is Clive."

"Oh?" Lilly said. "Only three?" she giggled. "No wonder he's confused. You are forgetting someone." She looked at the newcomer. "So, you are the lucky one getting two cover-ups."

"Yes. How does everyone know this?" Arata asked.

"There's only four of us working here soon to be five, once you join," Lilly said. "So, let me give you the 411 on everyone. There's me who acts like an assistant, I make sure we have everything in stock and as soon as we get low, I order more. My speciality is flowers and landscapes. Pretty much anything that is adorb."

"Clive there, don't let his lack of tattoos scare you, we do get some naughty customers so he's like our bouncer, plus he's our social media guru. His speciality are tribal and portraits."

"Takumi is our manager. So he does all the manager stuff. His speciality is giving tattoo virgins their first tattoo in a fluid manner, sayings, especially in cursive, and anything looking like it is coming out of your skin."

"Now Ami -"

"No," Ami said interrupting Lilly.

"-is the co-manager. She does a better job of being a manager and our go-to person for any designs that our client will like if they don't like our own designs. She specializes in cover-ups and has a high profile list of regular clientele."

"Really Lilly," Ami said with a sigh.

Arata snapped his to look at Ami. "You are a tattoo artist?" he asked surprised.

"Yes, it's one of my many jobs. I didn't tell you because you've already had a bad experience with getting tattoos from a friend. I didn't want to destroy our friendship," Ami said looking away.

"Well, I've trusted you this far," Arata said. "You might as well see it to the end."

"Good call, mate," Lilly said. "Welcome to the team."

Weeks later, Arata let out a sigh. Today was the grand reveal of how his right arm is going to look and Ami has been making him wear a blindfold throughout the process.

"Was this blindfold necessary," Arata said with a sigh.

"Yes, now ready?" Ami asked. "In three...two...one…"

She took the blindfold off and Arata was speechless. His right arm that used to be black lines going diagonal, straight, vertical and horizontal, into a maze of design was transformed. A blue path went vertical around his arm, 0's and 1's wrapped around the path, the closer to the top of the tattoo, the numbers were bigger and shrunk down as it closer to the path. A laptop floated above the path and at the tip of the tattoo pattern, away from his hand was a diamond.

"Turn your arm around," Ami said.

Arata looked at the underside of his arm, the blue path and numbers continued, but where the laptop was at the word 'Judes' was there in blue with a black shadow effect and where the diamond was at, Knightmon was there with his shield up.

"I-I'm speechless," Arata said. "I wasn't expecting something this personal, this amazing."

"I'm so happy that you like it," Ami said with a smile.

"Love this. It's no wonder you have such high profile clients," Arata said taking a shaky breath. "Thank you."

"I'll work on the other cover-up when we come back here," Ami said. "It will give your skin more time to heal."


	8. Peace

**Title: Birthday Countdown 2018**

 **Rating: T**

 **Category: Digimon**

 **Pairing: Ami/Arata**

 **Summary: Hello everyone! It's that time of year again where I use prompts to create a story everyday until my birthday. This is my birthday gifts to all of you. Please read and review and enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters within the story and prompts.**

 **Special thanks to my friend who gave me the prompts for this year.**

 _Prompt Summary: Arata has always lived a hectic life since he was ten. The only ever time he felt peace was when he was in Ami. However, a summer vacation from everything might be the thing he needs to focus on himself._

 _~~Prompt Summary~~_

Ever since Arata was ten, he's been living life. His parents started to fight when they were at home and that's all they would ever do. They would forget to fix supper or that bills needed to pay. They'll spend all of their money on alcohol which left Arata to starve, if he wasn't determined to survive.

Eight years has passed since his first job and once his parents found out about it, they'll take his money and continue to waste it. He wants to leave them, but the chains of knowing that they can't take care of theimse and being the only child stops him. For eight years, he didn't know that someone could ever feel at peace in life until he met her.

She's the only that can make him calm down and relax around her. She doesn't have to say anything, as long as she's near him.

Now it feels like he might die.

"You're leaving for summer vacation?" Arata asked.

"Yes. It's something that Mom and I try to do every year," Ami said. "Mom won't be to make it this year, but she said that I could bring a friend."

"I see."

"So?"

"So what?" Arata asked as he placed his hands in his pocketmails.

"Will you come with me?" Ami asked.

"Huh? Why are you asking me?"

"You are a friend, besides you can use it."

It was tempting, but Arata couldn't just leave his parents behind.

"I'm sorry, no," Arata said.

Ami nodded her head. "I had a feeling you was going to say that so let me rephrase it. You are coming with me this summer. No excuses!"

"But I said no."

"And I'm ignoring the fact that you said no as a response," Ami said. "You don't realize it yet, but you are close to having a breakdown."

"So, you are making me go with you? To a place that has no internet or signal on our digivice."

"Pretty much," Ami said.

"That's considered kidnapping," Arata said in a flat tone.

"Not if your boss already knows about it," Ami said.

"You talked to my boss?!"

"Yes, I was going to ask your parents, but they seemed occupied over an argument. I believe it was about how many inches are on a ruler."

"You've been to my house?!" Arata said.

"Yes, but that was an accident. Do you know that there is two Sanada's in your neighborhood?"

"How did you know it was my house?"

"Besides the fact that you are almost an identical copy of your mother? Kyoko and I saw you entering the house while she drove us out of the neighborhood," Ami said.

"Okay, since I'm being forced to go on vacation, when do we leave?" Arata asked with a sigh.

"Next week," Ami said with a frown. "You have zero ide over how much you need this do you? You've been coming over a lot lately and I don't mind it, but you'll be asleep before you even sit down."

Arata sighed. Maybe being away from a couple of months will be good.

"Thanks," Arata said.

The next week, Arata found himself staring at a lake. The sun sparkled against the calm blue waters. "What does your mom do again?" Arata asked as she looked at the only lake-front two story house in the area. The only house in the area.

"Oh, she's a reporter and an international best-selling author," Ami said with a smile. "It is one of the reasons why I can hardly see her."

Ami went up the steps to the front door and saw three packages. "Our homework is here!"

"Yay," Arata said with a deadpan expression.

Later in the summer, Arata had finally looked at the family pictures in detail. He picked one of them up and stared at it. It wasn't noticeable at first glance, but hidden by the frame were burn marks. He sat that one down and picked up another one that had the same thing.

"Morning, Arata," Ami said as she yawned and came down the stairs.

Arata looked at her. "Wow, so the little miss workaholic actually slept in," he said with a smirk.

"Y'know I'm human too," Ami said back in response. She noticed that he held onto one of the pictures. "What are you looking at?"

"These photos. Did you know that most of them looked like they were burnt," Arata said as he looked back at the photo.

"Mom did that on purpose," Ami said. "She took Dad out of our lives."

"So, why did she leave him?" Arata asked.

Ami looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Well, if she burned your father out of these pictures, than it is obvious that she left him," Arata said.

"From what I understand looking at the case, she didn't left him. She killed him in self-defense," Ami said. "I remember police wanting to question me, but they were still trying to get all the sleeping medicine out of me. My father wasn't the best man."

"And look at you two now," Arata said putting the frame down.

"I know. Would you believe that eight years I didn't know how to spell my own name due to my father? Apparently he kept Mom and me in chains so she wouldn't take off," Ami said. "So, Mom and I try to come here every year to just get away from all the demons chasing us."

"So, this was a safety house?" Arata said.

"My grandfather wouldn't let anyone come near here when we was here," Ami said.

It was getting closer to the end of the summer vacation. "Hey, can I ask you a question," Arata said.

"Of course," Ami said.

"Can I move in with you for a while," Arata said. "This summer vacation actually helped me realize how much I needed a break from my parents. So until I can find a place of my own can I stay with you?"

"Of course. I'm glad this vacation actually helped you more than I thought," Ami said with a smile.


End file.
